Hackers are becoming increasingly adept at identity theft in electronic commerce. Viruses, Trojan horses, worms, and spyware are used by hackers to install malware programs on consumers' systems to look for consumers visiting electronic commerce sites and entering their credentials. Malware programs can collect consumers' authentication data and other sensitive data by monitoring the keystrokes typed in by the user and sending them back to the hacker. The hacker is then able to log in to the consumers' accounts to damage or disrupt it (e.g., steal from it). Explicit sharing by the consumer, capture by man-in-the-middle devices, and guessing are other means used to compromise sensitive data. The compromises of authentication credentials expose service providers and their customers to the potential for financial loss and identify theft.
With respect to providing secure electronic commerce, service providers implement rigid authentication processes for their consumers to access their services. Typically, the authentication process involves a customer identifier and a password known only to the consumer. For more sensitive electronic commerce areas, a multi-factor authentication process is used involving, for example, a hard-token in addition to the traditional username and password.